“I’ll miss you a lot, but it’s a good call to move to private banking – that’s the best way to meet rich guys.”

I was about to leave the institutional sales department at my old bank, and my supervisor was giving me the proper send-off.

Girls in finance might have the gold-digger reputation, but I didn’t get into private banking because I wanted to meet rich guys – I got in because I was in the right place at the right time.

Little did I know what I had gotten myself into…

Private Banking: What You Do

I had received a 3-month notice at my old bank when I refused to transfer to a division that the department head wanted me to transfer to – so I had to find something else quickly or leave.

I interviewed across all departments and even different banks, and landed an offer as a relationship manager at a private bank.

I ended up not staying too long, but learned enough to tell you all about private banking – from what you do to the different roles to how to break in to how much you get paid.

What is Private Banking (PB)?

The private banking division at an investment bank manages assets for high net worth (HNW) individuals. You can read that as, “You’re rich but have no time to invest your money – let us make investment decisions for you, and we’ll collect a fee for those services.”

Usually these HNW individuals are worth over $5 million USD at the bulge bracket banks, but sometimes lower net worth individuals can also sign up depending on the group.

Teams are usually split into those that manage regular HNW clients and ones that manage ultra HNW clients – no, the “ultra” ones don’t have superpowers, but they do have financial assets of more than $30 million USD.

As you might imagine, the ultra HNW clients tend to be more demanding and banks devote more resources to wining, dining, and advising them. The minimum account size for PB clients is around $2 million USD, while the minimum account size for ultra HNW clients might be around $10 million USD.

The two main roles are investment professionals and relationship managers (RM) – investment professionals manage clients’ money and recommend products, while RMs manage the relationships, respond to clients’ requests, and also sell products to clients.

RMs and investment professionals usually attend client meetings together and support one another when answering clients’ questions.

How Do Private Banks Make Money?

As you might expect, private bankers make money from fees charged to clients – but there’s more to it than that.

First off, they sell managed accounts (also known as controlled or discretionary accounts), which are professionally managed and can be personalized to cater to clients’ needs – banks charge a fee for this depending on the size of the account and get recurring revenue since the fees are collected each month or each quarter.

Private banking clients also have brokerage accounts, which allow the bank to earn money by selling products such as IPOs and secondary offerings – so if a PB client wanted to buy shares of LinkedIn’s IPO, private bankers would coordinate with the equity capital markets team to ensure that the client received a fair allocation.

Then there are other services like estate planning, income tax planning, and philanthropic planning – so the fee parade never halts.

Private Banking vs. Investment Banking

One common, yet incorrect line of thought is that private banking and investment banking are completely separate – nothing could be further from the truth.

There’s a ton of overlap because many HNW clients want direct access to the investment bank’s products – IPOs, secondary offerings, bond issuances, and even access to the most exclusive hedge funds and private equity funds. So private bankers must work with investment bankers to ensure that their clients can invest in all of those.

There’s even more overlap in Asia because family businesses dominate the IPO market – so private bankers work closely with investment bankers to make sure that their banks win new IPO mandates.

Breaking Into Private Banking

So now you know something about what you do in private banking, how you make money, and the difference between private banking, investment banking, and asset management.

Now, how do you break in?

My Own Story

I broke into private banking by building contacts throughout the investment bank – I only had 3 months, so I focused on places with specific positions available.

I was lucky because private banks were expanding when I started looking for positions, and because many private bankers were impressed by people with investment banking backgrounds and top schools on their resumes.

You don’t see degrees from places like Harvard as much outside the US, and those types of schools are especially well-regarded in Asia.

Plus, my boss was looking for someone smart, efficient, good-looking, and charming, and I fit the bill perfectly. :)

If you want to work in private banking in Asia, you should know a local language such as Mandarin or Cantonese so you can talk to clients – you also need to understand the local culture, speak fluent English, and come from a well-known university. PBs like MBAs, but you don’t need the degree to break in.

Private Banking Interviews

Most of the interview questions were variations on “Why do you want to do private banking?”

I had worked with clients in equity sales before this, so I could sell my experience working with institutional clients and use that to convince them that I could also work with HNW clients.

That strategy doesn’t always work because it depends on the institutional clients and HNW clients in your region – in some places they can be very different in terms of personality and culture.

I didn’t go all-out with interview prep, but one friend of mine did his homework to break in: he studied for and passed the CFA to prove his literacy in finance and read all sorts of annual reports and filings to learn about the bank’s culture. The interviewers asked him very few finance questions and focused on his personality instead.

The top questions my friend and I both received in PB interviews:

Why do you want to do private banking? / Why do you want to work for us?

How can your previous experience add value to PB?

Tell me more about your interpersonal relationship and analytical skills.

For #2, focus on previous experiences where you worked with clients – especially demanding or difficult ones – and show how you resolved problems and accomplished your mission anyway.

The Private Banking Culture and What You Do Day-to-Day

The pace is slower than IB and the culture tends to be more political / bureaucratic because everything is relationship-driven and merit doesn’t always count for much.

Since there are more girls in PB than in IB, people can be catty at times (and yes, I’m female so I’m allowed to say this).

As the relationship manager, I attended a lot of client meetings and took notes on what the client liked doing for fun, what his/her kids did, where their kids planned to go for college, and so on – all that is fine if you like getting to know people, but overall my learning curve in institutional sales was much steeper than it was in private banking.

My average day usually began with the morning meeting where bankers discussed what was happening in the markets, and I would help my boss prepare investment analysis and anything else she had to present. I worked closely with the investment professionals to talk about specific clients and figure out what products might be good for everyone.

The RM role is much fuzzier than the investment professional role – that’s more for the quantitative and analytical type. If you do that, you’ll act more like a trader’s assistant by preparing account statements and sales pitches for personal investments – you don’t get to see clients, but you do work closely with the RMs.

Hours are roughly 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM – with 2-hour lunch breaks, so life is not exactly difficult. That might not be enough to become Don Draper, but you could probably still squeeze in at least one affair at lunch each day.

Show Me the Money!

As you might expect, pay is significantly lower since the lifestyle is so good and since the work itself is lower-stakes and not as stressful.

The analyst base salary is around $70K, with bonuses ranging from $18K – 35K depending on the economy.

Those are good numbers for your first job out of school, but bonuses will always be less than what you’d earn in investment banking since the fees are lower and overhead is higher.

Got Exit Opps?

The most common exit is to go to another private bank, or another PB division at a large bank.

Some people do get into private equity firms and hedge funds, but they’re mostly in roles such as investor relations or fundraising – without transaction experience, your chances of getting to work on actual investments aren’t great.

Some investment professionals also move into research or help funds analyze investment products and market trends.

Overall, your exit opportunities are definitely more limited than in investment banking since you don’t get deal experience and since the accounting and finance involved are much simpler.

Why I Left Private Banking

So, back to my story in the beginning: why did I decide to leave early on after I got into PB?

The short answer: another bank gave me an offer in their ECM department, and I was more interested in capital markets than private banking. I felt that it would be easier to go back into private banking whenever I wanted, but that IB would be much tougher to get into.

If you can deal with bureaucracy and you want stability, a balanced life, and decent pay, private banking could be a good option for you – I preferred the work environment of IB, so it wasn’t a good fit for me.

The Guy Made a Million Dollars!

Don’t hold your breath if you want to make millions in private banking – it’s much harder than it sounds to bring in ultra HNW clients and to win their trust.

If you already have loads of rich contacts, you might catch a lucky break and rise to the top quickly. Otherwise, you’re better off working for a relationship manager who can share his/her accounts with you.

If you’re smooth and good with office politics, private banking might be great for you – but if not, you’d make money faster in hedge funds, private equity, and investment banking since bonuses in all of those are much higher.

If you can bring in a lot of new assets as a relationship manager you can earn good money, but a rolodex of clients takes a long time to build – and building trust takes even longer than that.

As a senior RM you might have a good life wining and dining HNW clients and hanging out in high-end golf clubs and restaurants – but then you also have the stress of hitting “targets” (assets under management) set by banks.

If you decide to leave private banking, you could leverage your contacts and help them manage their businesses in exchange for equity, or even start your own firm to help them manage and invest their money.

The Best Way to Meet Rich Guys?

I never met the quality rich guys that my supervisor in institutional sales promised – but then I didn’t stick around long enough to go after all the fish in the sea.

But if you don’t mind playing the office politics game, you’re OK with lower pay in exchange for a more stable and balanced life, and you don’t like super-technical work, private banking might be right for you.

About the Author

Nicole Lee has worked in institutional sales, private banking, and capital markets in the world's leading bulge bracket banks. She has advised over several hundreds of professionals, from Analysts to Directors, at leading investment banks, hedge funds, and accounting firms. She has also interviewed senior professionals in private equity, venture capital, asset management, hedge funds and investment banks for featured articles. In addition to the above, Nicole also leads our coaching services here.

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Comments

Thank you Nicole.
the ability to sell and develop relationships is the only skill i can see which comes from PB. But is it something like a core skill at IB? Perhaps, not as they are more focussed on deals, financial modelling, etc etc.
I have never comes across someone who has moved from PB to IB like in M&A, PE, VC which are more lucrative careers instead of PB.
If anyone on the forum has made a change and it turned out more productive then please share your thoughts and experiences. As i’m in a dilemma at the moment and on the cross road where its really confusing to decide what to do next after spending 9 years in PB.
Appreciate your help and thoughts.

The salary numbers definitely seem skewed. I cannot see an PWM analyst base salary being $70k + 18-35k bonus. From my experience and what I have read, PWM starting salary is $50-60 TOPS if part of a development program, or much less if it is sales focused given commission.

It also may be at the office team/manager’s discretion – say you get hired as an analyst for a team in a random city (lets say with UBS PWM): the manager or director there could probably pay the analyst an hourly rate of his choice, to come out of his office’s cost budget.

I am in a similar situation to you. I just got an offer from a BB private bank as investment professional in Hong Kong. Given the current markets I am of course glad that I even have an offer.

But my concerns are because PB deals with personal finance and not corporate finance, would it be difficult to move into PE, IBD, GCM, or a company’s corporate finance department? I have a junior internship experience at another BB’s DCM in Hong Kong but didn’t receive the return offer. But do you think it would be possible to transfer to corporate finance/investment management/research in the future? Do people with PB background rise into executive positions within the bank or to other companies?

Also could you tell me in more detail how you made the transfer to ECM? How many years were you into PB that time, and how did you make the connection with the other bank?

It would be great if you can provide me your contact email to discuss things further.

I think you can transition, especially if you have the DCM internship. It will probably be easier to move into capital markets from PB vs. some of the other groups. I will let Nicole respond to the rest.

Hi Brian, thanks for the comment. By saying it is easier to move into capital markets from PB than some other groups do you mean PB can more easily move to capital markets than IBD, S&T? and could you please elaborate on why it is easy to transit from PB to capital markets?

Yes, it may be harder to move into corporate finance going forward because most banks prefer analysts with some sort of deal/transaction experience, unless you have connections with HNW clients and can bring in IB deals. If you work on the Investments team in PB, it may be easier for you to transition into research/investment management as long as you can demonstrate your technical skills and knowledge of the market. Taking the CFA/having taken the CFA will help if you want to progress in PB/move to research/IM too.

Yes some in PB take executive positions within the bank. I made the transfer to ECM because I was given an offer there when I was in PB. I have already been speaking with the other bank many months prior to my role in PB.

Adding to Brian’s point, it may be easier to move into Capital Markets from PB vs other groups because PB is still considered front office (assuming you’re working for a RM or an IM) and your sales/interpersonal/pitching skills are transferable to Capital Markets. It would be best if you could build relationships with HNW clients – that will be useful for IB/Capital Market roles going forward.

Great article ! I’m a financial planner with an insurance company for the last 9 years and at age 32, am thinking of switching over to wealth management . I’m also keen in the area of assets management , hedge funds , private equity and PB . My intention is to do a CFA level 1 end of this year and a Masters degree in wealth management next year, which area do you suggest to go into given my age at early to mid 30s by the time I finish my studies . For PB , do I need a book to go into at entry level ? I do not have a Rolodex of hnw but certainly some contacts which may qualify as hnw given my sales experience . Please advise . Thanks

Thanks for your comment. You don’t need a rolodex of clients to break in at the entry level. Your CFA is a smart move. I think you may be able to break in at the associate level. You may still have to generate commissions as you progress so you’ll have to develop your contacts fast and it may be challenging at first.

thanks for reply Nicole . Just to check how does one break into Pte banking at entry level ? Most jobs adverts on efinancialcareers always want expericed bankers with min book $50m Aum in first year .so how can one apply at entry level without any experience ? Also any idea what’s the base(usd) and bonus like at associate level ? Thanks

To break into PB at entry level, I’d suggest you to apply online (they have job postings online) or through your own contacts. efinancialcareers isn’t the best place to go to if you want to look for a good role in IB/PB (other firms) in my experience! Base is similar to IB. Bonus may be less, though I don’t have the numbers on had so I can’t comment!

Hi Nicole , great article.
Quick question, I have little numbers experience and am not so confident with the quantitative side of banks (I study history&politics at university). I also don’t know much about banks and banking culture in general. However I just got a PB internship this summer at a global firm (Family connection) and I’m wondering if a being a RM is better for someone who is better with words like meand not so good with numbers like me? Or are there other roles that may suit me? Sorry for the wordiness, trying to find my footing in this industry

Hi Nicole, very insightful thoughts. While I understand there are many relationship hires in PWM/PB for summer internship, is this also the case with full-time hires? I know in fulltime many hires in IBD have strong backgrounds especially in Asia. But what about in PWM/PB? would there also be many relationship/strong background hires at full-time level? And how would the quality of these relationship hires in PWM/PB compared to those in IBD/GCM?

I think they do still happen with full-time hires – it is less competitive to get into PB so you don’t necessarily need to have as much of a pedigree background to get in. I’m not sure what you mean about the “quality” of those hires, but as I mentioned, generally it’s less competitive so you won’t see as many people with perfect grades from top schools there.

Thanks for reading! You can invest in alternative investments like hedge funds, IPOs, FX linked structured deposits etc. It depends on the bank, and unfortunately I don’t have all the information! I will keep you posted though!

hi nicole, thanks so much for the article! i’ll be starting as a PB first year analyst (RM track) in a couple of months, and was wondering how being in PB will affect one’s chances of gaining admission to a good MBA program, especially since the business schools receive so many “finance” applications from the more competitive IB/PE side. while you were in PB, did you know of colleagues who applied and got into top US business schools?

Congrats! I don’t recall of any colleagues who applied and got into top business schools, though I’m sure quite a few from PB did end up going back to b-school. I think it really depends on your reference letters (be nice to your boss), your responsibilities and your essay. I think you can differentiate yourself by making an impact at work such as ..being the top rated RM in PB. Having extracurricular activities (if you have the time) would also help. For instance, if you could start getting involved in organizations like the Ocean Conservancy and doing solid work for them you may also increase your chances.

Thanks for the post. Right now I’m a junior college and I’m still thinking between IB and PB/PWM. They’re just two options I’m highly considering. In terms of my summer after junior year, assuming I’m still uncertain should I shoot for an IB or PB internship? Down along the road is it hard to move from IB as an analyst/associate to PB/PWM? I’m just thinking in the long run. Thanks.

Hi Nicole, thank you for the insightful article. I am interested in pursuing a PB career in Asia, with HK at the top of the list. Just wondering though, how important are language skills in HK PB? I would consider myself comfortable with speaking mandarin, but I am not totally confident of being able to discuss a product with clients, for example. Is there a great deal of emphasis placed on analysts being 100% fluent?

First of all, kudos for this article. It garnered my unequivocal attention. I for one believe that bureaucracy and PB go hand in hand, ironic I suppose.
I have a question for you. What happens when one don’t meet his or her targets? or for example if one is a experienced hire and if he or she will not able to bring her previous clients (AUM) into the new boutique or bank as promised in the interview (not all clients will be interested in moving their assets to a new firm)

hi Nicole
I started my banking career as RM wealth management for 5 years then I switched into PB but I am not satisfied with my career kindly suggest me what to do for elevation in my career. either through any degree or switching to other industry.kindly help me to choose better

I know you mentioned that it’s easier to move from IBD to PWM than the other way around. I’m a little torn because I’m considering accepting a summer internship at PWM in a BB or IBD in a mid-market bank. Long term, I believe my skill set and strengths suit PWM a lot better than IBD and I like the BB I received an offer at, however, I am curious about IBD and I like that it gives me more exit opps if I want to move into PWM or consulting or corporate strategy in the future. Do you think IBD at a smaller bank (BMO Capital Markets) can be leveraged easier when switching jobs or even industries or the brand name of a BB, in the PWM division is more valuable? And, should I value the idea of learning a lot and being able to leverage it for exit opps (IBD) more or value the opportunity to try something I might want as a career but with less exit opps if I find I don’t want to do it long term (PWM)?

Yes IBD can potentially offer you better exit opportunities. If you’re pretty sure you want to do IBD I’d go with BMO. One thing I’d do is to research on the growth of BMO – is the company growing fast? How is their deal pipeline? Do you fit into the culture? If the company is growing fast, has a good deal pipeline and niche position and great culture, yes I’d try it.

Otherwise, JPM may offer you a better brand name and you can leverage that in interviews, or try to transfer internally.

Be prepared that you may have to go through fall recruiting again though, since you may not necessarily like BMO as a firm or JPM’s PB division or itself as a firm. So I’d network a lot and continue to hone your pitch and valuation skills during the summer.

BMO is actually growing really quickly in the US recently and I love the people I have talked to but I don’t think I will stay in IBD long term because of the lifestyle…I’m just curious about IBD and interested in learning more and I think the summer would be a great way to determine my level of interest/fit/gain more transferable skills.

PWM at JPM is more of a long term career move that I could see myself staying in for a while…it just doesn’t have as many exit opps as IBD if I change my mind. And another area I am interested in long term is consulting, which I think will be harder to transfer into from PWM. (Although some people say the brand name of JPM is enough to trump IBD at a lesser known firm…do you know any truth in this?)

Yes brand name of JPM can help you transition to IBD at smaller firms. If you feel that PB is more suitable for your lifestyle, I’d probably go with that. With the above being said, if you really want to give IB a try and like the people at BMO, this maybe a better option for you.

Consulting – this is a different area, I would focus on the first two first. I think it’d be difficult to move from either to consulting, unless you go back and get an MBA though I may be wrong.

If you’re looking at gaining skills, getting exposure to IB and joining a fast-growing firm which can potentially offer you more responsibilities and perhaps compensation down the line, try BMO.

I am in a bit of the same position as Jessica above. I have an intern offer from the Private Bank at JPM which I look at as more of a long term thing and an offer from a rapidly growing investment bank (Stifel). I originally saw myself as only doing a stint in IBD but the training, big-name, etc. of JPM is a big pull. Both are in NYC and I would have the opportunity to network at both firms. The value for working in an Investment Bank would be leveraging the opportunity to go into Private Equity (Lower middle market or middle market PE) either directly (after 2-4 years) or after going back to get an MBA. A successful career in Private Banking, using the BB name on your resume to go into IBD at a smaller bank, or eventually leveraging the opportunity to go into Asset Management is not a bad position to be in either. Alumni at both firms have reached out to me and the culture at both seem to be very positive which makes the decision harder on my part. Any thoughts on my dilemma would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

It really depends – if you want to do IBD, I’d go with the smaller firm, though JPM gives you credibility and may open you more doors. However, transferring from PB to IBD from JPM maybe challenging, which is why I suggest going with the smaller firm.

Hi Nicole, thanks for this great article, it is really helpful! I just got an interview with JP Morgan’s PB for solutionist position. I wonder if you have any advice about interviews for this particular position or any PB interviews in general? Thank you!

I think you need to know the markets, basic modeling skills, why PB, and demonstrate that you have the presentation and communication skills to perhaps interact with HNW clients down the line. You may not necessarily be meeting them when you first start, but they may groom you to do so down the line so you want to look presentable. I’m not sure re. JPM’s PB solutionist position so perhaps readers may have better suggestions

Hi, my son who has an engineering degree recently went for an assessment and interview for commercial banking graduate scheme with a large UK bank. Afterwards they contacted him and said they thought he would be better suited to private banking and I am wondering why. Please could you advise if commercial banking has better career and salary prospects that private banking can offer. Any thoughts on why they would think this? Many thanks.

I wouldn’t say so. I think both have good prospects, and given increasing wealth globally, there’s an increasing demand for private bankers. Perhaps your son demonstrated solid client management skills as well as knowledge for the markets, which is why they suggested him to be join private banking instead.

Good morning Nicole,
I have a difficult decision to make within the next year and was hoping you could offer your intellectual insight. I currently work at a wealth management firm (have been working there since I was 18 now 21) and summer is looming around the corner. I have struggled with deciding whether independent wealth management or investment banking is the path to forgo. My work-life balance is great right now but I will admit that sometimes work gets very stale and the office environment is not always exciting. Wealth management would require me to attain clients and at a young age it would be extremely difficult. In addition, most of my pay would be based on commision, so paychecks would be quite inconsistent in the first 5 years. With investment banking I feel the environment would be more exhilarating and fun and challenging, although work-life balance would severely lack. Pay would also be much better at investment banking up front and be more secure than wealth management. However, my boss is the sole owner of his company and looking for someone to succeed his business in the next 15 years when he retires. So my question to you would be how do I possibly decide between the two? And which one do you prefer?

Brief Credentials
University of South Florida Alumni
Degree in Finance
3 years Financial experience and Sales experience
GPA 3.9

I don’t think you need to make any decisions here, unless you have an offer at an IB. What I’d do is continue working at your current firm and network with bankers at IB. If an interesting opportunity comes up in IB, you can take it. 15 years is a long time; I wouldn’t count on your boss retiring and taking over his company, unless you really love what he does and your current firm. Even then, I think its good to gain some IB experience if you have a chance.

Great article. I have 4 years of experience working in a private bank in India as relationship manager managed mid business clients. Right now I am pursuing my MBA In US. I got an offer to attend final interview for private banking summer associate role in CS. I am still thinking this is the role I would be fit in? I want to know any tips to attend the final interview as well.

Yes this may fit you – hard to say since I have not worked with you before. In terms of tips, make sure you understand what’s going on in the markets, and why you want to work in PB in the States ( I presume this is where you’re interviewing) vs. India – different clientele, culture, etc

I am from Australia and would like to get into financial planning/wealth management/private banking (same thing I assume). In Australia we have approved financial planning bachelor degrees which would enable me to then go for my CFP certification – an internationally recognized title. Would this be the best option? Or would a finance degree be better suited? There is an option where I can do a double major in both finance and financial planning. However if I did a straight finance degree i could also minor in financial services, and ‘superannuation and wealth management’. So which would be the best pathway?

Also as a CFP would it be possible to go into private banking since it is sort of basically financial planning for rich people?

Would CFP or CFA be more suitable?

I like working with people and helping them achieve financial success or increase their wealth. So i like talking to people but I also am interested in working with the stock market/investing – so using both my social skills and my brain to work.

The pay, as long as it is above average and decent Im fine with as I would probably die working 16 hour days.

Yes, in a way. You do talk to clients quite a bit if you’re a relationship manager so most of your time is spent on socialising. However, you’ll still need to know about investing. PB also have roles (say investment professional) that are mainly focused on analysing the markets + investing so these people work closely with the RMs to advise their clients.

1. Technically no
2. I don’t know. It depends on what they mean by “a joke.” I think MS and UBS have reputable PWM divisions. If you want to do IB stick to the boutique. If you want PB, I’d go with MS or UBS. Perhaps UBS since Swiss banks are probably better with PWM but I maybe wrong. If you compare PB work to IB work, then yes PB work and hours maybe “a joke” to some, but it depends on what your objectives are.

Love these articles, I just have a question – I am quite inexperienced in banking and don’t have a high end qualification. I do however have a lot of good finance experience with a lot of responsibility at a young age and I’m good at networking, which is why I can get considered for jobs outside my remit.

I recently had an interview with a top private bank for a Private Banking Executive role (not a banker role I know but, from what the bankers have told me, one that can develop into one if you’re good at the role) I don’t think I did well enough in the interview, infact I think I fluffed it, but I have another interview coming up as a Private Equity Account Executive for a Big 4 Firm. If I take this role and excel in it, become an Account Manager / Director, will that give me good exit opportunities to go into a relationship management role at a private equity firm ?

To clarify, “private equity” is very different from “private banking.” Private equity firms don’t really have relationship manager roles, though the larger ones may have investor relations-type roles. So it may potentially be helpful for moving into PE directly, but only for very specific roles and mostly at the larger firms.

I have a final round of interview lined up with CFO and other leadership team of a tech firm next week. The position is supposed to Head M&A along with investor relations. Can you advise me how should I approach the interview? also on what sort of questions to expect? as in the initial rounds of interview I was not only grilled about the entire M&A process including DCF, IRR, 3 model statements, LOI, corporate law and enterprise valuations but was also asked how will I help the firm get investment from private equity funds and other UHNWI’s to invest in the firm (equities, LBO’s, debts etc..)

I have a M&A and investor relations background. I did handle HNWI’s, funds and PE’s in earlier part of my career however in the past five years I’m heading the investment banking team concentrating on TMT in my current firm.

I’m probably out of the line here with my questions about IB I suppose, but would appreciate your thoughts on this.

Yes, I’d do that, and have a stock pitch in mind. Understand the stock market really well; technical questions on stock market, and even some on portfolio management (i.e. alpha, sharpe ratio etc) may come up.

Love this article! Thank you for all the helpful info.
I am now facing a really difficult situation that I hope to have your insights and advice. I have got an FT BB PB offer (signed already as it came early on). However, I now got 2 other offers: one for global market sales in a big international bank (not BB); the other for IB in a smaller bank. As a fresh grad, I haven’t had any past experience in the 3 areas above (i did an internship in trading support), but I feel like the latter 2 offers are much more exciting than PB. I know that my interest lies in the capital market, but definitely notice that IB offers more exit opportunities. In the long term, I would love to be in a role dealing with technical analysis and managing investments (still not very specific yet as I had very limited working experience). So my question will be, if I stick to the current offer, is it very difficult to break into the role that I want? If yes, would the other 2 offers be better and is it worth it to make the decision to switch?

That is a tough call. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s a great idea to switch to the other offers if you don’t have a strong feeling about what you want to do in the future… if PB really isn’t for you, you can always move out of it and do something else or go back to one of the other firms (or similar firms) once you have more experience.

You don’t really manage investments in IB since it’s not a markets-based role, and you do even less of that in sales. So I would probably stick with your current offer until you have a more specific idea in mind.